Wine Reviews Two: Is that all I do here?

I'm trying to get a read on the taste of this wine, but the situation is complicated by the excellent anise flavour I've got going right now. And every time I clear my palate to try and taste the wine, I eat another bite of this. The wine has a liquoricy nose, a slightly fennel-scented finish, and an all-sorts body?

Anyways, the wine is Le Bourgogne; Chanson Pere & Fils 2007. This strikes me as a pretentious choice of name. I will not bill myself as The Torontonian. Nor is our food Canada Food. In any case, I give the name a roundly negative review.
The label lacks also any pictures of castles, although a tiny lion does make up for that.





You may notice I haven't said anything about the wine yet, really. That's because it's sort of - winish? I mean, I know I'm no expert. Or really a beginner. But the dominant flavour here is, frankly, wine. It's nicely balanced, pleasantly tart and all, but I have to say the taste is that of some sort of red wine.
It's sort of like - it's like getting a B- on a paper that you didn't really try on? I mean, your expectations aren't really that crazy going in (mostly due to the lack of castle on the label) but you still can't help being disappointed even though it is completely, averagely satisfactory.

Final rating: I guess a B-? Is that applicable? It will have to stay after class.

Recent Kitchen Adventures

Apple Empenadas

Baked Samosas with Tamarind Chutney

Opinionated Amateur Reviews - LAN

Shit son, we have a blog?
I guess that means that I should - like you do- review whatever it is that I am eating or drinking at all times.
And what better place to start than with this lovely bottle of wine? LAN Rioja [capitalization in original] found its way into my kitchen today, and I couldn't be more pleased about it (this is rhetoric; I could, conceivably, be more pleased.) The 2004 "reserva," as they call it in, I presume Spain, is quite good; smooth, slightly sweet, enough tannicitivityness to keep me happy without feeling too tannic in the mouth. The label has a helpful maturation guide on the back, which satisfied my love for both red wine and graphs. Furthermore, the label has a lovely tiny castle on the front, which is cheerfully - I don't know, Moorish? The bottle is a good value (I guess? Declarative statements like that make me sound knowledgeable) at however some-odd teen dollars, so I recommend that you get a bottle and some friends for a - wait for it, wait for it - LAN party tonight.
LAN rating: quake 2/unreal tournament.

recycling!

FUN FACT!
You can render, filter and reuse lard to reduce expense and waste.
GUESS WHAT I AM DOING THIS AFTERNOON.
Also making stock out of beef bones.
Man, making confit was a pantry-staple-generating venture, apparently!

the recipe looked like this:

1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c brown sugar
cloves
five spice powder
several cloves of garlic, crushed.

mix all of this together and cure 2 lbs of beef in it for 2-3 days
(tough cuts work best: brisket, stewing beef, or if you can get them beef cheeks)

cook the beef at 200 degrees F for 4-6 hours, in 4 c of beef fat (I used lard)

lemongrass is the shit

In the future, this will become curry paste.